Dictionary.com

noun
1. an act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious rite.
2. an unguent or ointment; salve.
3. something soothing or comforting.
4. an excessive, affected, sometimes cloying earnestness or fervor in manner, especially in speaking.
5. Religion.
the oil used in religious rites, as in anointing the sick or dying.
the shedding of a divine or spiritual influence upon a person.
the influence shed.
extreme unction.
6. the manifestation of spiritual or religious inspiration.

Etymonline.com

“act of anointing as a religious rite,” late 14c., from Latin unctionem (nominative unctio) “anointing,” from unctus, past participle of ungere “to anoint” (see unguent).

Discussion/Explanation

This term may not appear as much as some but it can easily sound foreign to even a Christian if they haven’t stopped to consider its meaning and context.

To follow are some words from the message spoken at my own church this morning on this very term:

Unction is the “manifestation of spiritual influence and inspiration; it is the special filling or coming of the Holy Spirit, which makes the Word of God run from the mouth of the preacher to the hearts of the hearers!” An unknown Scottish preacher defined unction this way: “It is a sweet violence that pierceth into the heart and affections and comes immediately from the Lord. We call it unction.”